High-speed Optical Coherence Tomography:

basics and applications

Óscar Ramos Soto

Instrumentación y procesamiento óptico

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Content

Introduction.
Physical fundamentals of Time and Fourier Domain OCT.
Development of Rapid Scanning OCT Instruments.
Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging.
Physiological and Functional OCT Imaging.
Conclusions

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Introduction (contd...)

Modern medical imaging techniques

Fluorescent imaging.
Endoscopy.
Scanning laser microscopy.
Multifocal microscopy.
Optical tomography.

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Introduction (contd...)

Confocal microscope
Imaging of a thin tissue layer by eliminating light emerging from other
layers.

Figure: 1. Representative corneal confocal microscopic images of the corneal

nerve plexus (Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/)

Requires placing the sample in close proximity to the objective [1].

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Introduction (contd...)

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) improve the axial resolution

Figure: 2. Original version of Time Domain OCT (TdOCT) Huang et. al.(1991)

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Introduction (contd...)

Relatively low quality due to:

Time
Sensitivity
Resolution
Subsequent studies developed Fourier-domain OCT (FdOCT) enables 100x
aquisition times of Time-domain OCT (TdOCT)

Figure: 3. Fourier-domain OCT (2014) Raju Poddar et. al.

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Physical fundamentals of Time and Fourier Domain OCT

Measuring the echo time delay and magnitude of backreflected light.

Figure: 4. A light beam from an optical probe scans through a multilayer film

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

A. Low Coherence Interferometry

Figure: 5. Michelson interferometer general diagram

Because of the high speed of light, a direct measurement of “optical echo”

is impossible.
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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

OCT uses interferometric techniques with ultrashort light pulses or

partially coherent light to range distances at the level of single micrometers

Figure: 6. OCT uses low coherence interferometry to detect the time delay and
magnitude of backscattered light

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

B. Time-Domain OCT (Td-OCT)

Figure: 7. Simplified block diagram of the Td-OCT method

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

X
Esampl (t) = Esampl (t + τn ) (1)
n

Where τ = ∆z/c.
This wave is superimposed onto the wave that returns from the reference
mirror: X
E (t) = Eref (t) + Esampl (t + τn ) (2)
n

In practice, the light intensity I(t) is measured:

I = hE ∗ (t)E (t)i (3)

The intensity at the output of the interferometer:

 X X√ X√ 
I(τ ) = I0 ar + an +2 an am Re{γss (τnm )}+2 ar an Re{γ(τn )}
n n6=m n
(4)
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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Where:
Γ(τ )
γ(t) = q = |γ(t)|exp(−iωτ ) (5)
I0ref I0sampl
is the complex degree of coherence and Γ(τ ) is the autocorrelation
function, defined as:
Γ(τ ) = hE ∗ (t)E (t + τ )i (6)
The values τnm don’t depend on the position of the reference mirror.

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

After introducing τr (by movement of the reference mirror), the registered

signal may be expressed in the following way:
X√
I(τr ) = Const + 2I0 ar an |γ(t)|cos(ωτn ) (7)
n

|γ(t)| is a normalized coherence function.

The resultant signal is aggregated into an image column called an A-scan

Figure: 8. A single signal form an A-Scan

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

As the beam is scanned sideways, adjacent A-Scans are compiled into a

2D image, called a B-scan

Figure: 9. Multiple A-Scan form a B-Scan image

The above-described method of measuring layer thickness was used

for the first time in 1990 by Fercher [17]
Two-dimensional cross-sectional imaging of biological objects was
demonstrated in 1991 and was referred to as OCT [2].
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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

C. Fourier-Domain OCT (Fd-OCT)

Reflections in the sample are coded in the frequency of oscillatory

signal modulating an original spectrum of the light source
The light spectrum S(ω) has a spectral band-width

Figure: 10. Fd-OCT Signal interpretation

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Fd-OCT stems from a mathematical theorem called the Wiener-Khinchin

theorem and is defined as:
Z ∞
1
S(ω) = Γ(τ )exp{iω(τ )}dτ (8)
2π −∞

The autocorrelation of a signal is given by the Fourier transform of its

spectrum
Low-coherence interferometry is, in essence, a correlation operation

This means that we can perform OCT by obtaining the spectrum of the
interference signal and taking its Fourier transform.

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Using the Fourier transformation, Eq. (4) can be rewritten in the Fourier
domain to the following form:
h X X√ X√ i
Stotal (ω) = S(ω) ar + an +2 an am cos(τnm ω)+2 ar an cos(τn ω)
n n6=m n
(9)
To reconstruct the axial structure of the measured object, apply an inverse
Fourier transformation:

Ĩ(τ ) = IFT ω→τ {Stotal (ω)} (10)

 X  X√
Î(τ ) = ar + an Γ(τ ) + an am (Γ(τ ) ~ δ(τ ± τnm ))
n n6=m
X√ (11)
+ ar an (Γ(τ ) ~ δ(τ ±n ))
n

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

As Stotal (ω) is a real-valued function, it follows that Î(τ ) is a Hermitian

function

Figure: 11. Illustration of A-Scan in Fd-OCT

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

The detection of the interferometric signal in a Spectral OCT is made by a

spectrometer equipped with a high-speed line scan detector

Figure: 12. Block diagram of Spectral OCT (SOCT)

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Figure: 13. Schematic of spectrometer-based detection in a SD-OCT system.

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Swept source OCT uses high-speed tunable lasers. This method is also
called Optical Fourier Domain Imaging (OFDI) [22,25,27–33].

Figure: 14. Block diagram of Swept Source OCT (OFDI)

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

D. Optical Frequency Windows and Resolution in OCT

Is necessary for the sampling beam to be weakly absorbed and scattered

before it gets to the target and then to the detector.

Visible range light (400 - 600 nm):

Absorption due to erythrocites and melanin of the skin
Near infrared light (600 - 1500 nm):
Water absorption

For biological objects, optimal light sources within of 700nm to 1300nm

[34].

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

D. Optical Frequency Windows and Resolution in OCT

Is necessary for the sampling beam to be weakly absorbed and scattered

before it gets to the target and then to the detector.

Visible range light (400 - 600 nm):

Absorption due to erythrocites and melanin of the skin
Near infrared light (600 - 1500 nm):
Water absorption

For biological objects, optimal light sources within of 700nm to 1300nm

[34].

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

D. Optical Frequency Windows and Resolution in OCT

Is necessary for the sampling beam to be weakly absorbed and scattered

before it gets to the target and then to the detector.

Visible range light (400 - 600 nm):

Absorption due to erythrocites and melanin of the skin
Near infrared light (600 - 1500 nm):
Water absorption

For biological objects, optimal light sources within of 700nm to 1300nm

[34].

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

D. Optical Frequency Windows and Resolution in OCT

Is necessary for the sampling beam to be weakly absorbed and scattered

before it gets to the target and then to the detector.

Visible range light (400 - 600 nm):

Absorption due to erythrocites and melanin of the skin
Near infrared light (600 - 1500 nm):
Water absorption

For biological objects, optimal light sources within of 700nm to 1300nm

[34].

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Retinal imaging, optical Coherence Microscopy

Maximum axial resolution (1 - 4 µm)
Optical frequency spectral window centerd at 800 nm

Endoscopic OCT, anterior segment of the eye, intravascular imaging

Relative axial resolution for deeper layers (6 - 15 µm)
Broadband light centered at 1300 nm

The greater the wavelenght, penetration is somewhat higher, at the cost

of axial resolution.

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Axial resolution is determined by the coherence time tc or the coherence

lenght lc . For a Gaussian shape of the coherence function:
lc 1 2ln2 λ20
∆z = = tc c = (12)
2 2 πn ∆λFWHM

Figure: 15. Resolution limits of OCT

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

E. Time-Domain OCT versus Fourier-Domain OCT

Advantages of Td-OCT:
Automatic removal of coherence noise
Reversing the scanning sequence

Limitation of Td-OCT:
Efficiency of electrical filtering
Low speed of registering

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Physical fundamentals of Td-OCT and Fd-OCT (contd...)

Advantages of Fd-OCT:

Instruments are mechanically more stable due to stationary reference mirror

Fourier-domain detection is the substantial improvement in the quality of

cross-sectional images.

Increase of axial resolution obtained due to the use of a spectrally

broadband light source (femtosecond laser)

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Development of Rapid Scanning OCT Instruments

We are currently thrown in the center of a rapid development of

ultrahigh-speed OCT imaging instruments based on Fourier-domain
detection

Figure: 17. Progress in high-speed OCT technology.

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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

High-quality retinal cross-sectional images

Figure: 18. High-quality clinical retinal cross-sectional image

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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Diagnosis of pathological changes of the optic nerve and the central

retina

Figure: 19. High-quality clinical retinal cross-sectional imaging of retinas with

AMD
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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Three-dimensional retinal imaging

Figure: 20. (a) Diagram of creating the image ofthe eye’s fundus from data
obtained by 3D OCT. (b) Illustration showing retinal reflectivity maps of chosen
layers from 3D OCT
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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Figure: 21. Three-dimensional OCT imaging of human optic disc in vivo along
with a quantitative analysis of the nerve fiber layer (NFL)

It is especially important in diagnostics and treating glaucoma.

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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Figure: 22. Quantitative analysis of outer retinal layers based on 3D OCT data in
case of confluent drusen in 61 year-old patient’s eye.
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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Anterior segment OCT imaging

Figure: 23. High-quality, ultrahigh-resolution (3 µm in tissue) crosssectional

imaging of the anterior segment of the human eye in vivo

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Applications of High-Speed OCT Imaging (contd...)

Anterior segment OCT imaging

Figure: 24. Volume rendering of 3D OCT data of anterior segment in vivo: (a)
normal eye, (c) eye with keratoconus.
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Conclusions

A great increase in the number of OCT investigations has taken place

during the past 5 years, in parallel with the development of Fourier-domain
OCT technologies

The most crucial is the significant improvement of speed, enabling the

rapid acquisition rates that are necessary to reduce artifacts introduced by
patient motions

It also can be optimized within the framework of currently available

technology of detectors and wideband light sources.

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